A navigation system performs travel guidance for enabling a user to easily and quickly reach the selected destination. A typical example is a vehicle navigation system where a vehicle is equipped with a navigation function to guide a driver to a destination through a calculated route. Such a navigation system detects the position of the user's vehicle, and reads out map data pertaining to an area at the current vehicle position from a data storage medium, for example, a CD-ROM (compact disc read-only memory), a DVD (digital versatile disc), or a hard disc. Typically, the navigation system displays a map image on a monitor screen or a turn-by-turn arrow to guide the user to a destination.
FIGS. 1A-1H show an example of overall procedure and screen display involved in the navigation system for route guidance to a destination. FIG. 1A shows an example of locator map screen of the navigation system when the destination is not specified. Typically, the navigation system displays a street on which the vehicle (current vehicle position VP) is running on a map image and a name of the street. Other information such as a north pointer NP, a map scale and a current time may also be illustrated on the display screen.
An example of process for specifying a destination in the navigation system through a Point of Interest (POI) search method is shown in FIGS. 1B-1F. When a user selects to set a destination, the navigation system displays a “Find Destination by” screen as shown in FIG. 1B for specifying an input method for selecting the destination. The “Find Destination By” screen lists various methods for selecting the destination including “Address” for specifying the city and address of the destination, “Intersection” for specifying the names of two streets which intersect with one another, and “Point of Interest (POI)” for selecting the programmed destination based on the name, category or telephone number.
When selecting, the “Point of Interest” method in FIG. 1B, the navigation system displays'selection methods of point of interest (POI) either by “Place Name” or “Place Type” in FIG. 1C. The “Place Name” is to specify a name of POI, and the “Place Type” is to specify a category of POI. If the “Place Type” is selected in FIG. 1C, the navigation system lists categories of POIs as shown in FIG. 1D. The user selects a desired category of POIs from the category list.
FIG. 1E shows a screen when the user has selected a “Restaurant” category in the example of FIG. 1D. In this example, the screen includes a list of names of the restaurants typically sorted by distance from the current destination. The user selects a particular restaurant among the restaurant lists for route guidance. As the user selects a desired destination, as shown in the display of FIG. 1F, the user presses an “OK to Proceed” button for route calculation.
In FIG. 1G, the navigation system displays a progress scale during the calculation of the route to the destination. After determining the guidance route, the navigation system starts the route guidance operation as shown in FIG. 1H. A typical navigation system is able to display a route guidance list after determining the calculated route to the destination.
FIG. 2 is an example of a route guidance (maneuver) list displayed on the navigation system screen which lists upcoming maneuvers on the route to guide the user to the destination. The screen shows a list with a plurality of entries, for example, types of turn (maneuvering action) at the intersections and names of street that intersecting with the route to the destination. In this example, each entry in the route guidance list has a distance indicator 83, a maneuver icon 81, and a road (street) name indicator 85.
The distance indicator 83 shows a distance between a current location of the user and the next maneuvering location (intersection) indicated by the road name indicator 85, i.e., the length on the calculated road that the user will drive on the calculated route before the next maneuvering action. The maneuver icon 81 shows the information about the type of maneuvering action, such as making a left turn or a right turn, etc. Other maneuvering actions may be shown such as branching off to the left or right, making a U-turn, etc., at the next maneuvering location. Thus, for the street “RUE DE FORTUNA”, the display indicates that the driving distance is 0.7 miles and that the user should make a right turn to get to Bake Parkway. The scroll bar 71 allows the user to see more entries by scrolling the list on the screen.
While the route guidance list shown in the display of FIG. 2 is useful, the driver could still get confused as to the current location and the location requiring a maneuvering action such as making a left turn or right turn (maneuvering location). One of the reasons is that the route guidance list of FIG. 2 still not easily comprehensible for the user. Thus, there is a need of an improved display method and apparatus for a navigation system that provide a more intuitive and prioritized way of displaying the information in a route guidance list.